Hysterectomy 'to find lost coil'

The patient suffered a series of failed operations

A woman cried as she told a medical committee that she had a full hysterectomy after a surgeon failed to find a contraceptive device he had placed inside her.

The woman known as Patient C told the General Medical Council's professional conduct committee that she suffered depression following several failed operations by surgeon Michael Pembrey.

Mr Pembrey of Battle in East Sussex, is accused of serious professional misconduct over several hysterectomies and other operations he performed on nine women between 1989 and 1999.

The 56-year-old consultant was suspended on full pay in September 1999 and has denied all the charges.

Sterilisation request

Patient C first went to see Mr Pembrey in June 1993 requesting a sterilisation.

In April Mr Pembrey inserted a multi-load intra-uterine contraceptive device, also known as "the coil".

He then referred her back to her doctor in six weeks time to remove the device but he was unable to do so.

In July 1994 the woman was readmitted to hospital to have the coil removed but the device could not be found and during the procedure a perforation was caused, the committee was told.

A subsequent ultrasound found the device was not in the uterus at all but lodged between the uterus and the rectum.

Incompetent

Later in 1994 Mr Pembrey told the woman she would have to undergo a total abdominal hysterectomy to have the coil removed.

But even after the uterus was taken out and opened the device could not be found.

A later search revealed that it was embedded in the fornix - a fold at the top of the cervix - and it was eventually removed.

According to the charges, Mr Pembrey's insertion of the contraceptive device was incompetent and not a recognised treatment and as a result of this, Patient C was forced to have a hysterectomy she otherwise would not have needed.

Hormones 'upset'

Frequently crying as she addressed the committee, the woman said she had been "petrified" throughout much of her ordeal and it had caused her depression.

"I was getting tearful and I didn't know if it was because my hormones were upset, and my doctor told me I had depression and she was expecting it because of what I'd been through," she told the committee.

"I just couldn't stop crying."

The hearing continues.